Texans vs. Seahawks: Houston Must Play With a Sense of Urgency

By Mike Kerns

Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

It has been a really long week for the Houston Texans and their fans. When the team drops a stinker like they did last week in Baltimore, all they want to do is hurry up and get to the next one. Unfortunately for the Texans, that next one is arguably the best team in the NFL: the Seattle Seahawks.

This was a game and a stretch in the schedule that was circled as a high-risk area for Houston since the schedule was first released. A three-game run against Seattle and the two representatives in last year’s Super Bowl would show what this Houston team was made of. After one game, it has many wondering if this team is a lost cause already even with a 2-1 record.

In the entire Gary Kubiak era, I have never been more frustrated as a fan than I was watching last week’s game. To take the most conservative game plan and multiply it by a thousand times simply because his left tackle is out is one of the most confusing moves of his entire tenure. Don’t get me wrong; that has always been Kubiak’s style, but it was never on display more greatly than a week ago.

I’ve gone on record numerous times about why I’m not a big Kubiak supporter and I’m sure I’ll add to that this afternoon should another pathetic display be on parade in Reliant Stadium. So what should we be on the lookout for in today’s game? It’s simple: some fire.

After a game like that, an owner that has Super Bowl expectations for for his club might have read the riot act to his head coach. I get down on Bob McNair for keeping Kubiak around as long as he has, but we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. He couldn’t have been happy and I’m sure he let his head coach know that.

I still don’t expect to see the Texans come out slinging the ball all over the field or anything, but I have to believe the four-yard pass isn’t going to be their most explosive play of the day again either. They’re going to be committed to the run and will try to force the ball down the field in a physical way. Against the stout Seattle defense, that might be easier said than done.

We hear it from teams week in and week out leading up to a game about how they’re going to have to be physical with the opposition. If they can’t do that against Seattle, the fan unrest is going to grow even louder. The offense has to show some life today, or else we could be talking about Kubiak going down with the Titanic for the rest of the year.

It’s tough to believe a tiger will change his stripes, so to believe Kubiak will have them trying a whole new approach isn’t even on the radar of reality. But if Houston doesn’t show an extreme sense of urgency in protecting home field today, we could be talking about things I don’t like to be talking about before December — things like coaching hot seats and the NFL Draft.